It basically tells you that what you
perceive as reality is really your mind creating a world of its own.The real you is deep inside, beneath this
mind-generated idea of self or “ego”.The trick is to just watch what your mind is thinking, and taking that 3rd
person perspective is the first step to being aware of your inner Being, which
is really a part of god.Also, another
interesting point of the book is that time is actually another one of the
mind’s tricks, worrying too much about the past and future, instead of just
focusing the only important moment, Now.If you’re really focused on Now, you can still use your mind as a tool
to plan for the future, but without all the angst.

The book is much like the teachings of
Buddha and Jesus at the basic level, which is to forgive and forget all the
hurt and pain you perceive in the world because they are not real.The rest of the book is actually very
mystical and hard to understand (in fact the author tells you not to try to
understand with your mind but feel with your inner being).It reminds me of reading Descartes in college
and not understanding anything, just waiting for the famous line “I think;
therefore, I am.”Which Mr. Tolle says
is wrong.

I think the real value of the book is to
give you a tool to manage your emotions when things go wrong.If I could get to the next level and feel my
inner self and stop my mind from thinking all the time, that would be a major
bonus.My mind obviously has a lot of
doubts of this approach though; what happens to society if everyone was
completely happy just as they were?Who
would strive to get anything done?This
is like the conflict between Confucious and Taoism.You need both.The structure of Confucianism to create a
strong society, but Taoism so we don’t become too pragmatic (e.g.,
materialistic) and forget to stop and smell the flowers.

Another book that was on our shelves – The
Four Agreements – essentially repackages the same message, except this time
it’s from the “Toltec mysteries” – the Toltec were ancient masters of wisdom
and spiritual knowledge from Mexico.The 4 agreements are: